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Month: January 2016

Beetles are the largest group of insects belonging to the order ‘Coleoptera’ which means ‘sheathed wings’. They can be found nearly in all climates and latitudes except in extreme environment as those in the polar region. About 40% of all insect species are beetles while most of them are undiscovered.

The majority of beetles feed on a variety of plants. They may feed on leaves, stems, flowers, fruits, vegetables, and roots. Any part of the plant is food to them. They also feed on stored crops and grains. These pest attack on furniture and items made of wood. Hence they are considered as pests causing damage to our plants in fields, yards, gardens, storage areas etc.

Known as the polyphagous shot hole borer, the pest is a beetle that targets at least 38 types of trees, including avocados. It carries a fungus that interrupts the transportation of water and nutrients within the trees, leading to branch dieback and ultimately death.

The conservancy manages about 2,300 acres of land that is home to tens of thousands of oak trees.

Rick Bisaccia, stewardship director and lands manager for the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, said “Live oaks are probably the most predominant trees on our land,” he said. “If all of a sudden the oaks were to die and disappear out of there it would be a real, tragic loss.”

(CN) – New York’s natural resources division said Thursday that it is taking bids for timber harvesters to help combat an invasive species of beetles.

Tree-cutting operations began as part of the response plan, resulting in nearly 2,500 infested trees being chopped down, according to the agency. However, its efforts have not been enough. DEC says there are still forested areas threatened by the southern pine beetle.

“By thinning a portion of this forest, which represents one of DEC’s largest land holdings in the Pine Barrens region, we are potentially saving thousands of trees from this invasive insect,” Seggos said in a statement.

The southern pine beetle is native to southern areas of the United States, but the species has spread north and west. It attacks all types of pine trees, and about 1,000 acres of pine forests in New Jersey have been destroyed by the beetle each year since 2001, according to DEC.

Due to heightening fears that the ongoing spread of red palm weevil infestations will lead to spontaneous tree collapses around the city, the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality is demanding that private homeowners take certain measures to handle infected palms on their property.

The municipality announced that if property owners fail to treat their trees within 14 days, they will be subject to a NIS 730 fine. About 270,940 trees of all types grow in Tel Aviv, of which about 160,940 are found in public spaces, according to city data. Stressing the importance of urban plant growth to residential quality of life, as well as the millions of shekels invested in their preservation, the city urged residents to be proactive and protect the palm trees from the red palm weevil’s clutches.

Rolling Hills Estates in Peninsula removed more pine trees than any other species compared to past years, according to Andy Clark, community services director. The city held a special Parks and Activities meeting last week to address recent attacks on trees and hear Dudikoff’s concerns of bark beetles spreading to his area.

Oro-Medonte is tackling an infestation of emerald ash borer, a bug responsible for the devastation of millions of trees in Ontario.

However, targeting an area of the township populated with ash trees will not halt the beetle’s march through the municipality, an official says.

“It certainly will spread,” said Jerry Ball, director of transportation and environmental services.

“Once a tree dies, you stand the risk of it blowing down across a road or taking out hydro lines or falling down on private property, maybe on a house or whatever,” Ball said.

Let us look at the statistics that shows the increasing beetle infestation:

The U.S. Forest Service and Colorado State Forest Service
The annual aerial forest health survey in Colorado, 2015

A spruce beetle outbreak was detected on 485,000 acres in 2014, compared to 398,000 acres across the state in 2013. The epidemic expanded to 253,000 new acres, as compared to 216,000 new acres in 2013. The spruce beetle epidemic is expanding most rapidly in southwestern Colorado’s forests, and the total area affected by this beetle since 1996 has increased to almost 1.4 million acres statewide.

Approximately 3.4 million acres in Colorado have been affected by mountain pine beetle since the first signs of the outbreak in 1996.

The British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Land and Natural Resource Operations
Sustainable Forest Management, Facts and Statistics 2013

Since 2002, an unprecedented infestation of mountain pine beetle in British Columbia has significantly threatened Alberta’s pine forests. The British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Land and Natural Resource Operations projected that 57% of the province‘s merchantable pine forests could be killed by 2016.

Below image shows increasing mountain pine beetle infestation in Canada, US region in the year 2013:

Farmers’ knowledge and perceptions of blister beetles, Hycleus spp. (Coleoptera: Meloidae), as pest herbivores of Desmodium legumes in western Kenya
International Journal of Pest Management, 2012

The highest number of farmers reported blister beetles as pests of desmodium (63%) and beans (58%), followed by sweet potato (51%).

Insecticides and pesticides are designed to kill pests. Because of their mode of action is not specific to one species, they often kill or harm organisms other than pests, including humans. Also the majority beetle species are directly important to the environment. For example, several beetle species are predators on other harmful pests; others are decomposers of organic matter. Here is the evidence that shows adverse effect of pesticides:

New evidence of damage caused to bees by pesticide use, researchers claimBy wmnpbowern, January 05, 2016, Western Morning News, England

Scientists at Sussex University claim new research shows the impact on bees of neonicotinoid pesticides is even greater than originally feared.

The researchers, at Sussex University, say they have discovered that bees are exposed to a chemical cocktail when feeding on wildflowers growing next to neonicotinoid-treated crops in UK cropland.

C Tech Corporation can offer a solution to overcome the damage caused by beetles and other insects to our plants, trees, and crops. Termirepel™ is an ideal solution for the prevention of damage caused by insects. Termirepel™ is the non-toxic and non-hazardous anti termite and anti insect additive. Although it is non-hazardous anti termite it is effective on insects like beetles, grasshopper, worms, bedbugs etc. It is cost effective and cost efficient, inert, stable upto 1400 deg C temperature and long lasting.

Termirepel™ is manufactured with a unique set of complex compounds. It is available in the form of polymer masterbatches which can be incorporated in agricultural films, mulches, etc during processing. Termirepel™ can also be incorporated in silage bags and packaging films to protect the crops in post-harvest stage from pest damage.

Yellow crazy ants fit the stereotype of a rapacious marauding invader. The yellow crazy ant(Anoplolepis gracilipes) is a species of ant, introduced accidentally to northern Australia and Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, which has wreaked ecological damage in both locations. It is colloquially called “crazy” because of its erratic movements when disturbed, with its long legs and antennae making it one of the largest invasive ant species in the world. This is a “tramp ant”, a species that easily becomes established and dominant in a new habitat due to traits such as aggression toward other ant species, little aggression toward members of its own species, efficient recruitment, and large colony size. It is on a list of “One Hundred of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species” formulated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It has invaded ecosystems from Hawaii to Seychelles, and formed supercolonies on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.

The yellow crazy ants are widespread across the tropics, and populations are especially dense in the Pacific region. The yellow crazy ant’s natural habitat is not known, but it has been speculated that the species originated in West Africa. It has been introduced into a wide range of tropical and subtropical environments including Caribbean islands, some Indian Ocean islands and some Pacific islands. The species has been known to occupy agricultural systems such as cinnamon, citrus, coffee and coconut plantations. Because the ant has generalized nesting habits, they are able to disperse via trucks, boats and other forms of human transport.

Yellow crazy ants demonstrate the power of numbers and the benefits of social cooperation. They are able to dominate large areas by forming super-colonies with multiple nests and multiple queens. The largest have up to 300 queens and extend over several hundred hectares. They spread by budding. A mated queen leaves her birth nest with some workers and sets up a new nest nearby. The boundary of a super-colony can advance approximately by 3 meter a day.

Also what is interesting here is that crazy ants have the ability to form multi-queened “super colonies”, where rather than fight each other, the offspring of different queens cooperate to form infestations. There can be several thousand ants per square metre of forest floor in these super colonies, but at any one time there are just as many ants foraging in the treetops.

A survey on Christmas Island one of the worst affected regions yielded an average spreading speed of three meters a day, the equivalent of one kilometer a year.

The species is most infamous for causing the ecological “meltdown” of Christmas Island. On Christmas Island, yellow crazy ants have reached densities of more than 2,000 ants per square metre—the highest density of foraging ants ever recorded. The ants have had a dramatic impact on the ecosystem and are linked to population declines in some species of crab, bird and plant. Yellow crazy ant impacts are varied, depending on their density and on the invaded ecosystem.

They like to think of themselves as literally being the “queens of their castles”. Crazy ants are highly aggressive to other ants. Only two of 40 ants on Christmas Island are able to coexist with yellow crazy ants. In Hawaii, yellow crazy ants aggressively defend flowers from other nectar-eaters. Their large-scale removal of insects deprives other insect-eaters, such as lizards and birds, of food. Monopolization was noted at a site near Cairns.

They cause a huge amount of damage to the biodiversity as well as to the agriculture in the areas they attack. Yellow crazy ant’s farm sap-sucking bugs for their honeydew and protect them from predators. The build-up in bugs and sugar encourages the growth of sooty mould, which can severely compromise tree health and is sometimes fatal.

Yellow crazy ants also cause agricultural damage. They have killed young chickens and pigs. They reduce yields of coffee, coconut and sugarcane crops by nesting at the base of these plants and exposing the roots to disease, and promote sooty mould disease in fruit trees. On one of the Seychelles islands, the abundance of a sap-sucking insect associated with sooty mould on citrus and cinnamon increased up to 100-fold in the presence of yellow crazy ants, and up to 90 percent of leaves were infected.

They are also known to spray formic acid which may cause burning and irritate the skin and eyes of animals and potentially humans.

Let us look at the following news article:

Federal Government gives $2m to fight yellow crazy ants south of Cairns

Liam Parsons

The Cairns Post

November 11, 2013 6:14AM

RURAL MENACE: The Yellow Crazy ant, or Anoplolepsis Gracilipes.

THE war against one of the world’s most invasive pests has been given a boost after the Federal Government announced $2 million to fight yellow crazy ants south of Cairns.

The pests are about the size of green ants and spray a substance that irritates the skin and can cause temporary blindness to humans and animals.

Known for their frantic movements when disturbed, yellow crazy ants are entrenched at properties around Edmonton, south of Cairns.

But there are fears the infestation could spread to the neighboring Wet Tropics rainforests, causing severe damage to the World Heritage-listed region and local wildlife.

Wet Tropics Management Authority executive director Andrew Maclean said the ants would disturb fragile ecosystems while threatening young birds and even cassowaries.

“They’re quite aggressive,” he said.

“We would also be worried about the effect they would have on the invertebrate population, which plays an important part in the ecology.”

Mr. Maclean said recent surveys indicated the ants were confined to Edmonton, allowing the authorities to stamp them out before they spread.

“Once they’re established in a forest, the prospect of getting rid of them is pretty slim,” he said.

“It’s important you jump on these populations. We think it’s not too late to completely eradicate them.”

The money will go towards a five-year eradication program involving baits, research funding and public education and awareness programs.

Kennedy MP Bob Katter welcomed the funding and called for residents to identify and report the ants.

The funding, under the Federal Government’s Caring for Our Country grants program, comes 12 months after the State Government and Biosecurity Queensland stopped its eradication program.

Thus we can see that these pests are causing us a lot of grief and control measures are extremely costly.

In 2007, the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) claimed it had undertaken the world’s most successful eradication of the exotic invertebrate species, Yellow Crazy Ant, in the Northern Territory of Australia. However, the need for control programs for these ants is a pressing one. We at C-Tech Corporation can provide a solution to this grave problem.

However, the need for control programs for these ants is a pressing one. We at C Tech Corporation can provide a solution to this grave problem. Termirepel™ a product by C Tech Corporation is an effective non-toxic, non-hazardous insect aversive. It works by the mechanism of repellence by which it aims at repelling the target species away from the end application. Termirepel™ can be incorporated in agricultural films during processing which can then be used to protect crops against the onslaught of these vicious ants. Termirepel™ can also be sprayed on the plants to protect them from these crazy ants.

A weevil is any beetle from the Curculionoidea superfamily. They are usually small, less than 6 mm in length and herbivorous. There are over 60,000 species in several families, mostly in the family Curculionidae . There are more species in this family than in any other beetle group. Scientists estimate that there are over 1,000 species of Curculionidae in North America. Weevils are generally divided into two major divisions, the Orthoceri or primitive weevils, and the Gonatoceri or true weevils. Weevil species occur in a wide range of colors and body shapes. Many are slender or oval-shaped insects. Depending on the species, weevils range in size from about 3 mm to over 10 mm in length. They are usually dark-colored—brownish to black. Some have scales or shiny hairs covering part of their bodies. The most distinctive feature of weevils is the shape of their head. An adult weevil has an elongated head that forms a snout. The mouth is at the end of the snout. Some weevils have a snout that is as long as the body.

Most of the weevils are destructive to crops and are categorized as agricultural pests. They feed on crops as larvae as well as adults. Most weevils are found in fields, gardens or orchards. They can be very destructive, and their damage is often very expensive. For many years, one of the most destructive weevils was the cotton boll weevil. The black vine weevil, is found in many parts of the United States. It feeds on a variety of plants, including hemlocks and rhododendrons.

A few weevils attack stored grains and seeds. Weevils are often found in dry foods including nuts and seeds, cereal and grain products, such as pancake mix. In the domestic setting, they are most likely to be observed when a bag of flour is opened. Their presence is often indicated by the granules of the infested item sticking together in strings, as if caught in a cobweb. The most common stored product weevils are the rice weevil, the granary weevil, and the cowpea weevil. Sometimes plant-feeding weevils invade homes for shelter from the weather. Occasionally people accidentally bring seed-feeding weevils into the kitchen.

Banana weevil is the most important pest of banana plantations. The banana weevil (C. sordidus) is known from virtually all banana-growing countries of the world, including the New World, Afrotropics, Oriental and Australasian regions. According to a study conducted by cirad banana plots are colonized from already infested neighboring plots or from reservoirs, such as semi-natural wild banana stands. Plot organization within an agricultural landscape thus plays an important role in the spread of weevils, as does the position of the various elements within plots – banana plants, harvest residues, cover crops, pheromone traps, etc. It is its larvae that damage banana plants, by boring galleries in the bulb, which prevent the plant from taking up sufficient nutrients and sometimes cause it to fall.

Substantial losses can result if this pest is not controlled. Although it will attack all parts of banana suckers and established plants, it prefers decaying banana corm material. Spent stems (cut or left standing), residual corms left after the stem has been cut, underground stubs of corm tissue left after de-suckering, uprooted suckers or stems, and any corm tissues that are large enough to dry slowly are good targets for banana root borer attack. Dispersal within a banana field occurs when adult weevils walk from plant to plant or when infested plants containing eggs and larvae are moved. Dispersal between distant fields undoubtedly is caused by the transportation of infested planting material. The injury is caused by grubs (larvae), which tunnel through the corms. Tunnels which are circular in cross section become wider as the grub grows and are filled with dark-colored debris. Extensive feeding damage by grubs results in root destruction, slowed plant growth, reduced fruit production, and, sometimes, toppled plants. The tunneling by the grubs makes the corms susceptible to invasion by secondary decay organisms. Reduced production and growth of suckers occur when parent plants are heavily damaged. Affected sucker plants can be recognized by their dull, yellowish-green withered leaves. Relatively little damage is caused by adults feeding on plant tissues.

The damage caused by the banana weevil is demonstrated by this article published recently in The Hindu:

NATIONAL » TAMIL NADU

NAGERCOIL, September 8, 2013

Updated: September 8, 2013 10:24 IST

Stem borer a nightmare for banana farmers

KOLAPPAN

The entry of banana weevil, a common pest, in tribal areas across the Petchiparai dam has become a cause of concern for both farmers and officials of the horticulture department as these areas had once been totally free from the pest.

‘Nenthiran’ and red bananas planted in these areas have become its victims. “Commonly known as stem borer, the pest could wreak havoc on banana crop and contribute to drastic decline in banana cultivable area.” said Surendran Joseph, Assistant Director, Horticultural Department in Kanyakumari district, who identified the pests during a field visit.

Mr Joseph said when he received complaints of banana stems bending over and collapsing at Thatchamalai during the flowering stage, he was under the impression it could be due to some fungus attack.

“Even last year there was no incidence of this pest. But now I am surprised to find that it is the handiwork of the stem borer,” he said. Even though the problem was prevalent in Kanyakumari district, particularly in Vilavancode taluk, the borer could not make a foray into tribal areas all these years.

He felt the weevil, which could reach 10-16mm length with a hard-shelled and curved snout, could have invaded the area along with banana suckers brought from outside for planting.

The damage is caused by the grub (larva of the weevil), which makes tunnels as it feeds on the corm and root stock. The tunnels encourage fungal infection, ultimately reducing it into a black mass of rotten tissues. This hinders root initiation and sap flow to the plants.

“The infection will result in yellowing of leaves and withering; particularly, young suckers show symptoms of wilting. In older plants, growth is retarded. In case of severe infection, plants produce small bunches and are easily blown over by wind,” he explained.

Mr Joseph said the pest could be controlled through crop rotation, drip irrigation, selection of healthy planting material and keeping the garden clean from weeds and crop debris. “Uproot the infested plant, chop it into pieces and burn them. Removal of pseudo stem below the ground level,” he said, and advised farmers to avoid planting susceptible varieties such as robusta and red banana

He said if the planting material is suspected of being infested, the suckers should be trimmed on all sides so as to eradicate the presence of eggs and grubs.

The above incident strikes a chord close to home. India being a country majorly dominated by agriculture as a source of livelihood, the crops need to be protected from vicious insects like weevils and bedbugs.

Conventional pesticides used have numerous environmental consequences. The use of toxic pesticides means exposing our pristine soil to the evils of degeneration, degradation of soil quality, groundwater pollution, etc. A better way is to use non-conventional products. Unconventional products like Termirepel™ a product of C Tech Corporation are the best for this job. Termirepel™ can be best described as a non-toxic, non-hazardous termite aversive. It is effective against a multitude of other insects and pests like weevils, beetles, etc. It works on the mechanism of repellence and therefore does not kill the target as well as non-target species. Being non-toxic, it does not harm the soil and environment.

Cimex lectularius is commonly known as ‘Bedbug’. Bedbugs feed only on animal’s or human’s blood. They do not cause any disease but their saliva contains biologically and enzymatically active proteins that may cause a progressive, visibly detectable skin reaction to repeated bites. Scratching on the bites may cause secondary skin infection that can lead to swelling or burning. People may experience insomnia worrying that they will be bitten again. Those who are allergic to bedbugs’ bite can suffer difficulty breathing, irregular heartbeat, fever, swollen tongue etc.

Sometimes it takes few days to notice bedbug’s bite that is why they go unnoticed for several days in the infested area. Hence one should look for blood stains, dark and rusty spots of bedbug excrement, fecal spots for the bedbug infestation. They can enter your home through your luggage, clothing, and used furniture. Bedbugs generally hide in places where people rest most of their time like mattress, bed frame, pillows, cushions, couch, box spring, bed skirts, headboard, curtains, tiny cracks, crevices etc. They can be found everywhere despite the cleanliness. Places like hotels, business offices, military barracks, homeless shelter, college dorms, apartments, complexes, theaters, trains, buses etc. are commonly have bedbugs.

According to The National Pest Management Association and the University of Kentucky, nearly all U.S. pest professionals have treated bed bugs in the past year

Nearly all (99.6 percent) pest professionals have treated bed bugs in the past year, unchanged from 2013, but higher compared to five, 10 and 15 years ago.

The top three places where pest professionals report finding bed bugs are apartments/condominiums (95 percent) and single-family homes (93 percent) and hotels/motels (75 percent). Past surveys have shown these environments to consistently be the top three where bed bugs have been encountered.

However, bed bugs are also found seemingly everywhere else and in higher numbers, such as nursing homes, college dorms, offices, schools and daycare centers, hospitals, public transportation and others:

In addition to the environments above, pest professionals also report finding bed bugs in some very unusual places, results which illustrate how problematic this pest really is: A prosthetic leg; in a casket with a deceased body; vent above the bathtub; dance club; 911 Call center; and in a tow boat on the Ohio River.

Here are some incidences that show how bedbug infestation is an emerging problem:

WASHINGTON — The Baltimore headquarters of the Maryland State Highway Administration is battling bedbugs for the second time in the past couple of weeks, and the 10th time since 2014.
SHA spokesman Dave Buck tells The Baltimore Sun that each finding of bedbugs is a separate incident, and that the repeated sightings aren’t a sign of a single invasion that’s been neglected.

Emergency Medical Services and Lumberton police have alerted that the issues they have been having with people and clothing infested with bed bugs. In the case of the ambulances, this results in those units being removed from operation until they have been thoroughly cleaned.

Bed bug infestation causes family to struggleBy John Bush, December 15th, 2015, Ohio

Last winter, Sarah and her family unknowingly moved into a home infested with bed bugs. It wasn’t long before she and her two daughters began noticing the blood-sucking insects.

With no help from her landlord and not enough money to pay an exterminator, Sarah began purchasing bed bug spray every week to try to rid her home of the pesky insects. “I tried my hardest to get rid of them, but then one day we ended up tearing out a wall and found them all crawling in this one wall in the house,” she said.

To prevent and control bedbug infestation use of pesticides and insecticides is not beneficial because the effect of them stays only for certain period of time. The toxic chemicals present in them can cause harm to beneficial insects and microorganisms. The evaporated toxic fumes from them are hazardous to human health. They can also degrade the quality of product they are applied to.

Termirepel™ anti insect additive a C Tech Corporation product is an ideal solution for the prevention and control of bedbug infestation. The masterbatch of Termirepel™ can be incorporated in wires and cables which are used in domestic wiring. While Termirepel™ lacquer can be added to paints which can then be applied to furniture, walls, ceilings etc. It follows 6 pronged strategy which is extremely effective on bedbugs as well as insects like ants, beetles, grasshopper, termites etc.

Termirepel™ is a non toxic and non hazardous anti insect additive. It is thermally stable and does not degrade on exposure to heat and sunlight. It does not kill or harm the insect but repels them. It does not volatilize and does not degrade the soil. It is RoHS, RoHS2, REACH compliant and FIFRA exempted.